"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" Movie Review

        

            

            The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was an alright movie, but it let down huge fans of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This movie shows that Peter Jackson knows how it is done and this is a very big improvement over its predecessor. It stars a huge cast that I do not want to start on and is directed by Peter Jackson. It is about the group of about thirteen dwarves, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), and Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), picking up exactly where the last one left off on their journey to the mountain to slay the Smaug the dragon encountering several things on their journey and finding out that Smaug is not the only thing they should be worried about.

            

            This is a very enjoyable thrill ride that caught me by surprise. It rarely bored me, even though it did have a weaker middle, and I really enjoyed several parts of the movie, but I did not include action scenes. Those were scenes that did not have action and had dialogue instead. The dialogue was compelling and I enjoyed it all. Though, the action sequences are where the film really picks up. They were fun, exhilarating, and even intense sequences that are very well directed and that I loved. Those scenes would leave good tastes in my mouth after so I would really enjoy long amounts of running time after the scenes were over. They are all huge improvements over the first film, whose action sequences did not even get better than scenes without action. This movie also picks up right with the action, because we already know the characters. I think that it was good thing for the film to do and that really helped the film.

            

            Two other improvements over the first film are the score and look of the film. The score of the first film did not add anything to it. This score is great and adds to the film in large portions. The look of the first film was very, very good. The look of this movie is fantastic. The special effects (CGI and prosthetic effects) were also fantastic. There were few scenes that looked like CGI, and the CGI for Smaug was perfect. He looked like he was there and the dragon itself was done nearly flawlessly. That scene was riveting. Benedict Cumberbatch delivered excellent voice action for Smaug and the editing on his voice was excellent. The dialogue delivered was also excellent. The movements of the dragon were incredibly intense and excellent. The only reason the “nearly” was there before “flawlessly” was because of one very minor flaw I had. When the dragon first spoke, it seemed strange to me. Though, that is it.

            There were two primary storylines in this film and they both held up to each other. They both were equal to each other on how good they were, so there were no “down” moments when it would switch stories. Though, there was one small side story romance that was weak, unnecessary, and did not belong in the film. But both the primary plots sustained a dark tone that the first film did not have. Another improvement is that I cared about the characters and liked them. In the first I did not care about or like Bilbo Baggins or Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), but in this one, I cared about and liked both. I even slightly cared about each of the twelve other dwarves.

            

            One last good thing is that the ending was very strong. The reason some of the critics did not like the film is because of its conclusion, but I thought it was a very good ending that is keeping me waiting for The Hobbit: There and Back Again next year. The middle film is allowed to end this way, because it does not have to resolve everything. I will mention my third and final flaw now, which is barely a flaw. It had room for improvement. That is all I can say about my final flaw.

This is a great movie that is a big improvement over The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
            The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug gives fans a proper return to Middle Earth in a great thrill ride improving over its predecessor in many aspects.